2016 Strawberry One-Act and Theatre Festival Kicks Off in July

The Riant Theatre, a nonprofit theatre providing a nurturing environment to playwrights and theatremakers of diverse cultural backgrounds, presents the 2016 Strawberry One-Act and Theatre Festival. The Festival opens on July 14th and runs through July 31st. Each festival evening will feature a program of one to four plays out of twenty-nine one-act works presented in competition, and on selected evenings, one of four full-length plays. All performances are presented at the Theatre at St. Clement's (423 West 46th Street, between 9th and 10th Avenue).

Added this season is a special event - a world premiere of a new play In Mysterious Ways, written by Nejla K. Hubbard and directed by Van Dirk Fisher. This full-evening play explores the subjects of Christian spirituality, forgiveness and faith. One Christmas Eve, a turn of events changes the course of two families' lives and catapults them in a direction they could never have imagined. When all hope is gone, how do they find the way?

For more information, visit https://www.therianttheatre.com/item.php?id=246

Nicknamed "The American Idol for playwrights," the Strawberry One-Act Festival has been presenting New York premieres and world premieres of short theatrical works submitted for competition from across the country. Since 1995, it has produced over 1,500 one-act plays. Reflecting the diversity written into the mission of its presenter, The Strawberry One-Act and Theater Festival features plays that vary in length (from 15 to 90 minutes) and deal with wide array of topics, from stories of human connection and comedic takes on love and sex to works dealing with pressing social and political issues like teenage suicide, women's rights, and gun control.

Strawberry One-Act Festival features a playoff-style competition, in which the audience members vote for their favorites, selecting six finalists. The chosen plays will be judged by the jury of industry experts. The winners receive awards for Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress, and Best Costumes. The main prize, The Best Play Award, comes with a $1,500 prize and a development deal for a full-length play produced by the Riant Theatre. Awards will be presented at the Closing Night Ceremony and Performance on July 31st at 7pm, at the Theatre at St. Clement's. In addition, some of the plays in the festival will be selected for publication in print in the festival's anthology The Best Plays From The Strawberry One-Act Festival: Volume Nine.

"I'm very happy that the Riant Theatre is able to offer so many playwrights, actors, singers and artists an opportunity to showcase their work," said Van Dirk Fisher, Artistic Director of the Strawberry One-Act and Theatre Festival. "The competition makes it an exciting event for the audiences, but at the end of the day all of our participants are winners as they use our event as an opportunity to network and develop future artistic collaborations," he further explains.

The list of the Strawberry Festival alumni includes Jesse Eisenberg, Chazz Palminteri, Ato Essandoh (2016 Jason Bourne/HBO's Vinyl/Elementary), Ving Rhames ( 2016 Bastards/Mission Impossible), Chance Kelly (NBC's Aquarius/American Sniper) and Eriq La Salle (ER/Under the Dome). Among the playwrights presenting their work in this year's competition are pianist and performing composer Neil Wolfe and a two-time Emmy nominated producer Michael Selditch (Queer Eye for a Straight Guy).

There will be a Launch Party for the Festival at the Poet's Den Theatre, 309 East 108th Street, NYC, on June 25th at 3pm, and a Wrap Party for the Closing Night Performance and Award Ceremony on July 31st, 7pm, at the Theatre at St. Clement's. Tickets (Festival shows: premium seating: $30 advance/$35 at the box office, general admission: $25 advance/$27 at the box office; Launch Party: $50 before June 15th, $60 after, also cash only at the door at the event; In Mysterious Ways: $50 Wednesday matinees, $60 evening performances; The Awards Ceremony: $30 Online, $35 cash only at the box office) are available through https://www.therianttheatre.com/ or by calling 646-623-3488. Check the website or call Box Office for information on Festival Pass discount packages.

All one-act works in the competition are presented live as well as streamed on-demand through the festival's Vimeo channel (https://vimeo.com/ondemand/strawberryoneactfestival) at $25 per play. Viewing a play online will also count as a vote for that piece. To see works from the past festival plays, buy a Vimeo subscription for $15 per month.